Optimal nutrition: vitamin E
- 1 May 1999
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Proceedings Of The Nutrition Society
- Vol. 58 (2), 459-468
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0029665199000609
Abstract
Interest in the role of vitamin E in disease prevention has encouraged the search for reliable indices of vitamin E status. Most studies in human subjects make use of static markers, usually a-tocopherol concentrations in plasma or serum. Plasma or serum α-tocopherol concentrations of < 11.6, 11.6–16.2, and > 16.2 mmol/l are normally regarded as indicating deficient, low and acceptable vitamin E status respectively, although more recently it has been suggested that the optimal plasma α-tocopherol concentration for protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer is > 30 μmol/l at common plasma lipid concentrations in combination with plasma vitamin C concentrations of > 50 μmol/l and > 0.4 mmol β-carotene/l. Assessment of vitamin E status has also been based on α-tocopherol concentrations in erythrocytes, lymphocytes, platelets, lipoproteins, adipose tissue, buccal mucosal cells and LDL, and on α- tocopherol: γ-tocopherol in serum or plasma. Erythrocyte susceptibility to haemolysis or lipid oxidation, breath hydrocarbon exhalation, oxidative resistance of LDL, and α-tocopheryl quinone concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid have been used as functional markers of vitamin E status. However, many of these tests tend to be non-specific and poorly standardized. The recognition that vitamin E has important roles in platelet, vascular and immune function in addition to its antioxidant properties may lead to the identification of more specific biomarkers of vitamin E status.Keywords
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